Tone stepped even closer to DeAndre who’d stopped talking altogether. “You ain’t got it, son. You don’t understand what rap artist legends did in the past and continue to do to advance hip hop. I don’t even need to hear your shit to know you’ll never get to where you’re trying to go by disrespecting the black woman. Ain’t that how you got into the world? Think about that the next time you want to belittle a woman.”
I wanted to clap my hands or snap my fingers in the air at Tone’s honest statement. Instead, I smiled and nodded my head, secretly thinking that’s my boo!
DeAndre turned to me. “Wipe that damn smile from yo’ face. You think this shit funny?” Considering he’d just fallen, he was moving pretty fast in my direction, the weed clearly giving him the ability to ignore any pain he may be feeling. I told myself to move from his wrath, but I stood there, frozen with the camera in my hand, not believing this meeting had gone so much worse than I’d expected.
Thankfully, DeAndre didn’t reach me. Tone hit him square in the jaw, knocking him out cold. And while all I wanted to do was throw my arms around Tone and thank him for coming to my defense, I had a feeling this situation was not going to go over well with the network.
CHAPTER 13
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt …
or knocked the hell out.
~ Madame Social ~
M EEKA
“DO you have any idea how much of a field day the media will have if they get a hold of this?” Dragon Breath asked. “DeAndre is demanding that the network pay him for emotional damage, and Madame Social has agreed that the network will pay and slap him with a non-disclosure.”
I rubbed my forehead, my headache growing the longer Dragon Breath spoke. Yesterday had gone terribly, so I wasn’t surprised when Tone and I were asked to come into the office first thing the next morning.
The rumor mill in the office had already started. Folks calling Tone my knight in shining armor for saving me from the wicked bitch of the west, aka, DeAndre. And Tone knocking out DeAndre had become a GIF because one of the Nike store employees had started recording them the minute they began arguing. One of the GIF’s was even in slow motion, DeAndre’s braids flying in the air before he hit the floor.
As much as I wanted to laugh when Layla had texted me the GIF, I knew the outcome wasn’t going to be so funny.
“Did you see the footage?” Tone asked.
Dragon Breath nodded her head. “Yes, I saw it. I don’t disagree that DeAndre had it coming, but you can’t behave like that. Especially when you’re on the company’s time and dime.”
“I agree,” Tone replied. “I lost my temper and I apologize.”
“I’m very sorry,” I told Dragon Breath. “We didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand.”
Tabitha looked between us both. “I also have to ask that you both head to HR later today and report your relationship.”
“Why?” I asked. “Folks at work date all the time.”
“Meeka, you’re the lead for this project, and after completion, Madame Social mentioned that you will still probably get a promotion to a permanent lead position … even after this stunt yesterday.” She turned to Tone. “And, Tone, you’re a senior already. You should have reported your relationship with Meeka right away.”
He nodded, guilt in his eyes. “I understand that. We’ll talk to HR as soon as possible.”
“I guess this is the end of the assignment,” I stated. “I can work with production on edits starting tomorrow.”
Dragon Breath shook her head. “Oh no, you are definitely finishing this assignment, Meeka. Madame Social actually had an idea and she asked one of the assistants to reach out to one of your exes for the fifth and final interview. Unfortunately, he’s out the country the rest of this week, but next Monday, he’ll be in Chicago.”
“Huh? I’m confused. Which ex are you referring to?”
“Go ask my assistant,” she said. “I need to talk to Tone in private.”
I glanced at Tone.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll come find you after.”
Reluctantly, I left the conference room to go find out about this mysterious ex that I was supposed to be meeting with next week.
TONE
“YOU FUCKED UP BIG TIME,” Tabitha said, the moment Meeka was out the room. “This is a new low, even for you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Her eyes widened. “Um, hello? Dating Timeka Simmons! You know she has a track record for dating around. Word is, she can’t keep a man to save her life, yet, here you all, wife-ing her up and shit.”
I tried to keep the tone in my voice calm when I replied, “Meeka is an amazing woman. One of the best women I’ve met, actually.” I glanced behind me to make sure that no one was outside of the conference room. “And you of all people should know that I don’t listen to rumors. People in the office say that you and your fiancé are an amazing couple and that you’re always telling others what they need to do to make their relationships work. Funny, you never took your own advice when it came to our relationship.”
She frowned. “Good ole’ Anthony Michaels, reminding me every day that I messed up. We could have worked it out, but need I remind you that you broke up with me.”
I clenched my jaw. “Need I remind you that you cheated on me with six other men.”
She waved off my comment. “I was young back then and you weren’t giving me what I needed. You were always too busy trying to further your career or send money to your family. Didn’t you notice that we were struggling to make it? Why send money back home when we were practically living in a dumpster in Paris trying to fund our dreams?”
“Do you hear yourself? Why did I want to take care of my family? My mom and older sister did everything they could to make sure I didn’t end up a victim of my environment. How many west side boys in our neighborhood did you know who were able to live overseas and chase their dreams? Every time this shit gets brought up, you try and blame your infidelity on me, when deep down, you know you were wrong for that shit. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t have given you back then.”
“And now you’re giving it to Meeka,” she shot back. “Crazy Meeka who can’t keep a man to save her life. Is the sex that good, Tone?”
“Better than we ever were together.”
She sat up in her seat. “Ha! Not likely.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have taken this job the minute I heard you worked here.”
Tabitha poked out her lip. “Aww, what’s wrong, baby? Mad that fate brought you here to work with me? I bet Z and Meeka don’t even know we dated, huh?”
“Dating you is a time in my life I’d rather forget,” I said. In truth, Z knew about the situation because he was one of my best friends. He hadn’t known who I’d been dating in Paris at the time, but I fessed up the minute I’d learned Tabitha worked for SEN. Meeka still didn’t know and every day I didn’t tell her ate away at me. She deserved the truth. “And I bet your fiancé doesn’t know we dated either.”
“Oh, please. Why would he? My man is so fine and so rich, he couldn’t care less about the poor black boys I used to date in the past before I realized I deserved better.”
I shook my head. “Same old Tabitha. Putting others down to make herself feel better. You betta watch yourself, Dragon Breath. Your claws are showing.”
She smirked, leaning over the table toward me. “That stupid nickname that your wannabe wifey started is about as lame as she is.”
“Watch your mouth talking about my girl.”
“For real?” She laughed spitefully. “So now you want to grow some balls and fight for a relationship? Where was all this testosterone when you watched my ass pack up and leave our place in Paris?”
“Why would I have stopped you when I broke up with you and dodged a major bullet? The day I found out you cheated on me was the day I realized you were somebody else’s problem. Tell your fiancé I said thanks.”
Tabitha smacked
her lips and uttered, “I should warn Meeka about you now before she gets too invested.”
I shook my head. “Don’t say shit to her. I’ll be the one to tell her you’re my ex and one of the worst decisions I ever made.”
“No need. I already heard it.”
I turned to the conference room door at the sound of Meeka’s voice. Shit. She had the worse timing ever. I stood and walked over to where Meeka was standing near the doorway. “I’m so sorry you found out like this.”
“I realized I forgot my notebook in here.” Meeka glanced from me to Tabitha, her eyes settling on mine. “I didn’t realize you two had dated.”
“It was a long time ago,” I explained. “Tabitha doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. You’re the only woman on my mind.”
Tabitha crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh really? I find that funny considering you were just emailing Z not too long ago telling him how much Meeka was driving you crazy. As a matter of fact, IT was able to pull up several emails throughout the last two years where you dogged out Meeka, calling her a whack job who probably went to the bathroom after sex to put a man’s semen in a turkey baster and blast it up her coochie to get pregnant. Your words, not mine.”
Meeka turned to me, hurt reflected in her eyes. “Is that true, Tone? Did you say that about me?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I decided to be honest. “Yes, I said that in the past, but that was before we started dating. It was right after that craziness with our blind date. I didn’t know you then.”
“So you preached to DeAndre about treating a woman with respect, when all along, you’ve been talking about me behind my back?”
I tried to pull her to me, but she backed away. “It sounds really bad, but that’s not how it was. I have nothing to hide, and I swear, I didn’t know you. Not really. You can read all the emails I sent him if it makes you feel better.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need to read shit. If this assignment has taught me anything, it’s that I deserve better than what I’ve been getting.” Her eyes held mine. “I thought you were different, but I guess you’re just like all the others.” She finally got her notebook off the table and left without another word.
“Aww, poor Tone,” Tabitha teased, looping her arm through mine. “Some people weren’t meant to find love. Or in your case, some people are bound to screw it up.” She stood on her tiptoes, her lips close to my ear. “But I could make you feel better if you want. For old time’s sake.”
My blood was boiling, so now was not the time for Tabitha to be messing with me. I pulled my arm from her grasp, making sure she heard me loud and clear when I said, “You may have made Meeka upset, but trust that her and I will be together for a while. Unlike you, I could see myself marrying that woman one day. You also betta stop giving her shit at work, or else.”
“Or else what?” she spat. “You ain’t gonna do shit.”
I took out my phone and scrolled through my messages. “You’re with your fiancé for his money, right? You want to get married, quit your job, live off of him. I did some research and yeah, you snagged you a good one. He also seems to value loyalty and honesty. I wonder what would happen if I showed him these texts you’ve been sending me since you and him have been together.” I showed her my phone. “Think he’d be curious to know how bad you want to fuck me? Betta yet, maybe I should just put the bug in his ear that you’ve been unfaithful because I already know you’ve fucked two people here in IT.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t prove that.”
“Yes, I can. Did you forget my position with the company? All I had to do was suggest to security that we add cameras in IT and voila. Infidelity at its finest.”
Tabitha ran out of the room before I could even get the rest of my words out. Little did she know, I didn’t have shit on her. Not only did I not give a damn about what she did, but I’d dropped her from my thoughts the moment I started working with her and noticed she was not the person I once thought she was. She wasn’t the woman for me.
The woman I wanted to be with was unfortunately hurting right now, but I wasn’t the type of man to give up. I’d give her some time to herself, but she wasn’t getting rid of me that easily.
CHAPTER 14
The truth always lies in the words left unspoken.
So speak up!
~ Madame Social ~
M EEKA
IT HAD BEEN ALMOST a week since I’d spoken to Tone, and although I tried my best to act unfazed about our predicament, I wasn’t. I missed him so much it hurt, and the fact that we hadn’t even been together for that long scared the mess out of me.
The only silver lining had been the fact that Dragon Breath had switched gears, and instead of always being on my case, she was ignoring me any chance she got.
Come on, Meeka, you can do this. My heart was beating out of my chest at the fact that Tone was due to arrive any moment and I still had no clue how I would explain the meeting we were about to have.
“Ms. Simmons, we are ready for you,” a man said, as he stepped into the waiting area. The meeting was taking place in a high rise downtown on one of those floors that people were able to rent out when they had to do business.
“Great! I’m just waiting on the cameraman.” On cue, Tone exited the elevator looking just as sexy as he did when I’d seen him at work last week.
“Hey,” he said when he approached. “You look nice.”
“So do you.” And boy did I mean it. He was wearing his norm. Dark jeans. Dark shirt. Hair pulled back. Cut fresh as hell. Since I’d also chosen to wear dark colors, we complemented each other.
“If you both can follow me,” the man said.
When we arrived at the room, I extended a hand to the man I was interviewing. “Hello, nice to see you again.”
“Good to see you again, too,” he said, accepting my handshake. He turned to Tone. “Nice to meet you. My name is Malakai Madden and this is my assistant, Tyler.”
Tone’s eyes widened and I could only assume he’d heard of Malakai before. “Glad to meet you, too. I’m Tone and I’ll be the one recording this interview.”
“Sounds good,” Malaki said with a smile. “Where should we begin?” He took a seat and I sat down beside him while Tyler and Tone both stood, Tyler jotting down notes and Tone recording.
“First, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I was told that you’re a friend of Madame Social and was already debriefed on the assignment.”
“I was,” he confirmed. “Although I must admit, I was surprised to hear from the network, but glad that I could help. I know what it’s like to have social media change your life, and my heart went out to you after our date.”
I sighed, hating that I’d have to relive a date that I’d rather forget. “Thank you for saying that. I also have to apologize for the way I behaved. I do have an excuse, but I own up to my craziness that night.”
He shook his head. “No apology necessary. It happens to the best of us.”
I briefly glanced at my notes. “Okay, since we only went on one date, we figured that this conversation would be more based off of what you’ve learned after everything you’ve gone through. An inside take on dating all the wrong ones to find the right one, if you will.”
Malaki grinned in a way that let me know he was happy. Truly happy and ready to give advice to others to help them stay encouraged. “Sounds good to me.”
“Great.” I glanced down at my first question, but decided to switch it up a bit and ask my last question instead. “Malakai, if you could give us three ingredients needed for a successful relationship, what would those ingredients be?”
He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together. “Although it may sound like a typical answer one would give, I believe that good communication, honesty, and commitment are the core priorities needed for your relationship to thrive. Without good communication, the foundation of your relationship breaks. Without honesty, you can never truly learn to trust one another. An
d without commitment, your unbroken spiritual bond diminishes into nothing more broken promises and heartache. To love someone — and not just anyone — but to cultivate and strengthen a relationship with the right one — your only one — you must be willing to give them a part of yourself that no one else has ever had.”
As I sat there listening to Malakai talk with such conviction, I realized that I’d never felt that way about anyone, nor had anyone ever felt that way about me. For years —most of my life, really — I’d created this idea in my head that I couldn’t fully be myself for a man to truly love me. With the exception of my mom, I had no idea what unconditional love felt like because the kind of love I’d experienced had one condition after the other.
There were so many men and women in the world with daddy issues, and unfortunately, I was added to that long list of disappointments. I’d been attracting deadbeat men like my dad since I’d been old enough to date and yeah, there were a few good men thrown in that bunch, but in the end, I still ended up single. I was still the woman a man dated before he found his one true love. I was good ole’ Meeka, great for lots of laughs and at times, even sex, bound to make every bastard not worth the air I breathed feel better about himself.
I may be a handful, but in more ways than one, I’d been used as a punching bag for men to do as they pleased with no regard to whether or not that bag would burst from taking so many hits. However, this assignment had taught me that I was worthy of being loved despite my past mistakes. If anything, my mistakes had only prepared me for the day when the man I was meant to share my future with walked into my life. If he hasn’t already. I didn’t know what it was about Tone, but he seemed different than my exes. Being with him felt right, as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
“Meeka?”
I shook my head from my thoughts. “Yes?”
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